Chapter 7
People around town called had given them the nickname Flora and Flutta. While every human could name at least one pony friend, and the majority of ponies could name at least one human friend, no pony-human combination were joined at the hip the way Julie and Fluttershy were. It was a rare day that the two of them could not be found in some part of Ponyville or Humantown, Fluttershy caring for the animals and Julie tending the plants. They would sing songs or share inside jokes between themselves. It was almost embarrassing, but they didn’t mind.
In particular, Luke was happy that his wife had found a filly-friend to occupy her time. There was enough money coming in through the store that she didn’t have to work, and she was an efficient enough housekeeper that she did not have to spend all day cooking and cleaning. Growing flowers was a hobby that she hadn’t had time for on Earth, and now she had the time for it, as well as a fascinating new array of flowers to work with. There were colors and scents that she hadn’t dreamed existed.
Often he invited her to accompany him to Earth on his buying trips. “Not that I don’t like spending time with you,” she had responded, “and if you’re afraid of being bored or need me to help, I’ll be glad to come. But if it’s all the same, I don’t like to leave Equestria. I just always feel happy here.”
“You were always meant to be an Equestrian, you were just born in the wrong world,” Luke had said, kissing her.
For Fluttershy, the arrival of humans was a wonderful gift. She was still nervous around other ponies, and even though she had seen the bad as well as the good in humanity, she was still a xenophile who was fascinated at an entire new world of people coming to meet her. In Julie, she found the distilled essence of what she liked about humans.
When she had first introduced Julie to her animal friends, everything went well until the bears and wolves came around. Julie had backed away scared, and Fluttershy had the rare opportunity to be the brave one. It took a little time to understand why humans were afraid of large beasts, but once she introduced Julie and had her talk to them, the gap was bridged.
Each day they would pick a new area to spend time in. They would prepare picnic lunches and just stay in one spot. Even Earth humans were envious of Julie’s talent in horticulture, but Ponyville and particularly Humantown were more beautiful for their efforts. The other pegasi had even changed their schedule of rainstorms, having more at night and in the early morning so that their plans wouldn’t be ruined by rain. There had even been talks of delaying winter, but no one believed that would occur.
One day, when the sun was particularly bright and the sky free of clouds, Julie and Fluttershy traveled down to the Gate. Julie had an idea of garlanding it with white flowers and having a welcome display for the immigrants that continued to come. As they hung the flowers, the telltale magical glow of an operating Gate appeared.
“Ooh, I wonder who it is,” said Fluttershy. “I didn’t know of anyone scheduled to come in, so maybe it’s a new immigrant.”
They watched in anticipation, but the glow faded out. “I wonder what went wrong.”
“I thought I saw something,” said Julie. “A little ring in the air, almost like a muzzle.”
“A pony wouldn’t be coming through the Gate.”
“No, not that kind of muzzle, a—“ she was cut off as a large man shouldered her to the ground. He was wearing camouflage and a thick helmet. In a flash, a dozen more soldiers had passed through and were pointing rifles at her and at Fluttershy. They were all yelling in deep staccato tones, specifically designed to unnerve and put people off their guard. Some were barking orders and information to their fellows. Others were telling her to stay down.
Julie thought of taking wing, but even if she had the speed and agility to avoid the shots, she had a more serious problem. Fluttershy had curled into a ball, her wings pinned to her side, her front hooves trying to cover her eyes and ears at the same time. She was in panic, and Julie could not abandon her.
A soldier with an additional stripe on his uniform said, “Area secure. See if you can report.”
Another soldier held up what looked like a walkie-talkie. “Comm check, comm check,” he said. They waited, but nothing happened.
“Try the wired,” the sergeant said.
The soldier had another walkie on his belt that had a cord stretching back to the Gate. He spoke into it. “We read you,” said a tinny voice from the device.
“Come on through.”
Two more soldiers emerged from the Gate. Julie saw the rest of the men keeping watch with their rifles trained and looked at the two new ones. One had a silver bar on his shoulder, and the other wore an eagle. She couldn’t remember the ranks, but knew that they were officers.
“Report,” said Eagle.
“One objective target and one hostile in custody,” said the sergeant. “All else looks clear.”
“Right,” he said, looking around for himself. “OK, start hauling in.”
The radio man relayed the order, and more men came through, these carrying barbed-wire barricades which they used to quickly establish a perimeter. Eagle turned to see Fluttershy still covering up and Julie looking at him. “What d’you think? Waste them?”
“Sir,” Silver Bar said, “I do not believe that would be in the spirit of General Wallace’s order. We should just secure the area.”
“I can’t think of a more secure area than one that’s been depopulated!”
“General Wallace is going to want intelligence, Colonel.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” the colonel said. “But watch them. Build a separate barricade and make sure it’s roofed! They can fly awful fast.”
In the span of five minutes, Julie and Fluttershy had gone from playing with flowers to being prisoners of war. They sat and hoped that somepony would come along and rescue them, but for a long while, nothing happened.
When the voice was heard, Fluttershy had a moment where her heart leapt, thinking that it was Big Macintosh, but then she saw that the drawl was coming from a tall human that even she could tell was in charge. He gave her a glance and spat on the ground. He looked longer at Julie, staring at her wings. She folded them nervously. Looking sideways at the colonel, he said, “She have any ID?”
“No, sir. No weapons either.”
He knelt down. “I’m General Wallace. You know me?” Julie shook her head. “Shame. What’s your name?”
Julie said nothing. It might have been from fear or out of defiance.
“All right, don’t tell me.” He turned to his men. “Take her back through.”
“No, please! My name’s Julie, and this is Fluttershy. You can’t leave her alone. Let me stay with her,”
“All right, we might do that. Now, as an American citizen in hostile territory you’re under my jurisdiction. I want you to tell me everything you know.”
Something in the general’s sneer kindled the defiance in Julie. “I’m an Equestrian citizen. And we live under Princess Celestia’s jurisdiction. She’ll stop you, whatever you’re here to do!”
“See, now, that’s why I wish I didn’t have to have such a show of force right at the outset. We’re not here to do anything but bring everyone safely back home. There are tens of thousands of people trapped here, and my orders are to release them from their captivity.”
“But we’re not captives. You have to know that. We all came voluntarily.”
“Were enticed, you mean.” Wallace smiled at her. He gestured to his men to back off, then continued in a low voice. “Listen, lady, I don’t like to BS, and I’m sure you don’t want your time wasted either. Yeah, I know that, but it’s not the official line for the boys. You’re going back, one way or the other, and it’s just a question of how much blood we have to shed before it happens. So make it easy on everyone and let me know what I want to know.”
“And that is?”
“To start, any defenses you have planned against us. Your weapons. Your provisions. Where I can get a detailed and accurate map.”
Julie laughed to herself at the notion that this guy was afraid of ponies with IEDs or such, but the last thing he asked for tripped her up. “A map? You want to conquer Ponyville!”
“No, no. You’ve got me all wrong. I want to get to the capital city. What is it? Candle-lot?”
“Forget it! Just, forget it!”
“All right. We’ll see how long it takes for you to come around.” General Wallace stood up and spoke to his men. “Standard treatment under the conventions. Get them some MREs and water.”
When they were alone, Julie said to Fluttershy, “It’s all right, he’s gone now,” but she still huddled with her face turned away.
“No, he’s not! He’s going to take over Equestria! He’s invading my home!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to escape.”
The soldier guarding them told them to shut up. A minute later, another brought two gray plastic packages and threw them in the cell along with bottles of water.
“What’s that?” said Fluttershy.
“I think they’re food,” said Julie, but she looked at them and screamed at the soldiers. “What are you doing?! Pork sausage and chicken?”
She threw both packages back at the soldiers. She would have eaten either on her own, but knew that it would horrify Fluttershy. She kept the water.
Leaning back against the barricade, for the first time Julie wished that she hadn’t become a pegasus person. If only she had magical powers like some of her friends, or impenetrable skin like others. She'd tear open the wire and wouldn’t care about the bullets. She cursed her wings.
She opened her eyes when she heard some chittering next to her. Fluttershy, still turned from the guard was looking through one eye at a white bunny rabbit with an angry expression. Angel! He might have known where they were going, or perhaps he just got hungry and set out to find his mistress. He hopped in through the barbed wire.
Julie looked back at the guard, trying to read his face. It appeared to her that he had no indication that it was anything other than a forest creature. Through her teeth, and as softly as she could, she said, “You speak bunny?”
“A little,” said Fluttershy. She gave some chitters of her own. The rabbit started gnawing at the wire surrounding the cage. Julie shook her head slightly and picked up Angel. Pretending to pet him, she brought him around until he saw the soldiers. When she put him back down, he hopped back out and started bounding at top speed for town. Now all they had to do was wait.
Maybe a half hour later, she saw her husband flying overhead. The soldiers noticed it too. “Incoming!” one of them shouted, and they started firing their rifles. Julie didn’t know if they were warning shots or really trying to bring him down, but Luke displayed some of the training he’d had with Rainbow Dash, soaring for height out of the range of the bullets.
He was circling around, as if trying to locate her, but he had to be able to see Fluttershy’s bright yellow coat. He had a paper in his hands and was marking it. Julie couldn’t quite figure out what he was doing, but after he flew away, moments later she understood.
She wished that she could have seen the face of the guard after they’d vanished. When the magic enveloped her, she recognized the telltale raspberry glow of Twilight Sparkle’s power. Fluttershy and she popped out of the barricade and zipped at the speed of light to a nearby hill. Luke was waiting there, along with Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Lisa, and Olivia.
Luke ran over to Julie with fire in his eyes. Fluttershy ran to Twilight. "Twilight it was awful! We've got to stop them. Send the humans away!"
Everyone stopped. Julie said, "You mean the invaders, right Fluttershy? You don't want to send me away. Do you?"
Fluttershy looked up. The expression on her face said that she indeed wanted to return Equestria to an all-pony world. But she didn’t say it. She quickly calmed down and took a breath. “Yes, that’s what I mean of course.”
“Everypony, listen.” Twilight drew the attention of the group. “The first thing we have to do is inform Princess Celestia. I’ll write her and she’ll decide what to do.”
“No!” said Luke. “By the time that the princess finds out, there could be ten thousand troops coming through the Gate, or that cadre we saw could be in Ponyville. We have to strike back now.”
“How do we do that?”
“Can’t you just teleport all of them back to Earth?”
Twilight looked at him as at a child. Olivia said, “It’s not that easy. Our magic isn’t unlimited. Lisa, can you explain it?”
“Even teleporting all those people at once within one universe would be a task beyond any unicorn or magical brony. And spot transference between Earth and Equestria is also a precision spell. That’s why we have the Gates in the first place. Rather than fight back, can’t we just try talking to them?”
“That might be a wise course of action,” said Twilight.
Fluttershy spoke up. “I-I don’t think that will work. Their leader. . . he’s mean.
“I think that Fluttershy is correct,” said Julie. “At least as far as negotiations not working. We might talk to the general, he’s not that mean, but it would be useless. He said that his mission was to bring all the humans back to Earth, but he can’t do that unless he has a base to do it from, and he can’t do it safely so long as ponies can resist. He’ll muster more troops and invade all the way into Canterlot.”
“Well, let’s just kick his tail back to Earth!” said Rainbow Dash. “Shove him back through that Gate head first!”
Luke shook his head. “Rainbow, I know that you’re not used to things this dark, but those soldiers out there don’t have dark magic, they don’t have chaos, and they aren’t going to affect you in some way that we can fix by next week. All they have are guns. Cold metal that will pierce your skin and make you bleed out. I know you’re brave, but you can be brave and dead as well.”
Twilight had a thoughtful look. “Exactly what can these guns do?”
Luke explained briefly the workings of a rifle.
“OK, here’s the key question,” said Twilight. “How far can they shoot?”
“Can’t say exactly. A couple of football fields, probably.”
At Twilight’s confused expression, he pointed at what he judged was five hundred yards away. She smiled. “Then maybe we can do this. We can outrange them.”
“Wait, shoot back?” said Olivia. “We can’t do that.”
“Oh, yes we can. They have one disadvantage. They actually have to aim.”
***
The spell that came out of Twilight’s horn made it look like a child’s bubble wand. It grew to the size of a baseball, then a basketball, then an oversized beach ball. She released it and a force bubble of pale red bounced on the grass.
“Are you sure it’s safe to handle?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Definitely. It’s completely harmless to all life forms. Of course, they won’t know that, which I’m hoping will help create confusion.”
“How did you come up with this spell anyway?” asked Julie.
“About five years ago, there was a river that was threatening to jump its channel. They asked me to help out. This was what I came up with.”
“And forming it into shells like this?” said Luke. “Why would you need that for a river?”
“We didn’t.” Twilight grinned, showing her teeth. “I just came up with this right now.”
Twilight shared the spell with Lisa and Olivia, and soon all of them were churning out spheres and stacking them like cannonballs.
Fluttershy kept looking toward the camp by the Gate. “Do you think they can see us?”
“Probably,” said Luke, “but they don’t know what we’re doing.”
“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” said Julie. “We’ve got three flyers and three mages, so you don’t have to come with us.”
Fluttershy paused a moment, then said, “No, I want to help.”
Twilight stopped her magic and spoke to the group. “All right, I think we’re about ready to begin. Remember that you might have to hit the same spot more than once. Keep a steady pace. I want one to drop every few seconds to keep them off balance. But for Celestia’s sake, stay high! You see how far we are from them on the ground. Use that as your guide. Fly to a point above them, drop, then come back. Don’t go in close to try to hit something specific.”
Rainbow Dash was first. She picked up one of the spheres. It was awkward to hold, but weighed nothing at all. She had a slightly comical appearance, as if she were hugging a bean-bag chair, but she took off with no trouble. Luke followed in her wake, then Julie, then Fluttershy.
The soldiers in the camp saw the takeoff, and the sergeant quickly picked up the radio to call his superiors. He was cut off by the cry of “Incoming!” and saw the men scatter from the glowing sphere that was rapidly descending. They traced it as it landed on the empty holding pen that had been used for Julie and Fluttershy.
Suddenly and silently, the spell and the pen ceased to exist.
There was a cylinder of emptiness all the way down to the grass. On the edge of where the spell had landed, a post had been severed in half, the grain of the wood showing. On the other end, the barbed wire had lost one support and flapped down. A chair sitting almost entirely within the circle had been mostly obliterated, with an inch of the back and two of the feet being all that remained.
Adrenalin coursed through the veins of the soldiers as they awaited orders and did what they could in the meantime. The next sphere was already on its way down, and some of the soldiers fired a quick burst from their rifles. The bullets penetrated the sphere, but no effect could be seen. The spell landed on a table full of documents and equipment, destroying them.
The third sphere was falling. A young private, seeing his first combat action, panicked and froze as it was on track for his head. A buddy of his tried to pull him out of the way, but his feet wouldn’t move and gravity was pulling the spell down too fast. He was standing right in the center when it landed.
When the private opened his eyes, he saw that he was stark naked. The friend who was pulling on his arm had his sleeves cut off. Some of the others laughed, both at the funny image and with relief that their compatriot was still alive. But the ponies and the bronies now had their system down, and the spells fell without respite.
They tried to get organized, but there was just too much magic being delivered too fast and too unpredictably. Pegasi and pegasus people cycled and hurled the spells that Twilight and the magical bronies kept making. The soldiers watched more of their fellows lose bits of clothing, saw rifles lose their barrels or magazines, rendering them useless, and witnessed thousands of dollars’ worth of military hardware blink out of existence.
After twenty minutes of shelling, there was nothing left of the installation but the soldiers. Fluttershy came back from a run and didn’t take off again, catching her breath. “There’s nothing left there to try to hit,” she said.
“Then lets charge them down!” said Rainbow, coming right after her. The humans all followed eagerly, and Twilight ran along to quickly teleport them out if the army had any other tricks, or if they decided to fight by hand. Fluttershy brought up the rear.
Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Equestrians racing in led by Rainbow’s angry expression caused the troops to break. A few turned tail and ran for the Gate, the only area where anything other than their own bodies remained standing. The colonel followed suit, and that was enough to start the exodus.
General Wallace saw the line breaking from the corner of his eye, but he had also realized that they were taking no casualties. He was only facing material attrition and psychological warfare, and considered himself immune from both. As the last of the invaders went back through the Gate, he stood with arms akimbo, proudly displaying his body, and laughed.
“All right, I see what you’ve got!” He cried out. He took the time to look each of the charging Equestrians in the eye, then turned and walked back through the Gate himself.
Twilight galloped up to the Gate and focused her horn. The glow of its magic dimmed. “I’ve temporarily disabled the magic here. It’ll wear off in a few hours. We should have somepony guard it though for when it comes up. Lisa, can you stay since you know the magic suppression spell?”
“Of course, but where are you going?”
“We have to get to Canterlot right away and let Princess Celestia know what’s going on. Rainbow Dash, you should stay as well in case Lisa needs a quick ride out.”
“No problem. And if more do come through, we’ll just fight them off the same way!” Rainbow punched at the air with her hooves.
The others ran off. Heading back to town, Julie said, “Can’t we just send the princess a letter?”
“We’re going to want face-to-face conversation,” said Twilight. “When we’re exchanging ideas back and forth so fast, it’s hard on poor Spike’s digestive tract.”
They raced for the train to Canterlot. It was still the morning rush hour, and the trains were frequent and tightly packed. Twilight composed her report to Celestia in her head and exchanged ideas with Fluttershy and the humans.
“They’ll probably try again,” said Luke. “This was probably just a reconnaissance mission, trying to see what kind of defenses we have. The next time they come, they’ll try harder, move faster.”
“We’ll have to make larger spells to wipe out their equipment,” said Olivia. “Although if they try to bring a tank or a jet, even destroying part of it will stop it from working.”
Luke swallowed hard. “Yes, but even if we can stop them, they know how to fight by hand if they had to. I don’t want to be the one to say it, but we’re going to need to do more than strip them and take away their guns.”
Fluttershy and Twilight looked at him, expecting him to follow up, but the humans understood him quicker. “Are you saying that we have to kill them? We can’t do that!” said Julie.
“Definitely not,” said Olivia. “Setting aside the moral consideration, it’s the surest way to get them angry and make them want to kill more of us.”
Luke shook his head. “Unfortunately no, it isn’t. You’re young, and you probably weren’t watching the news over the past decade or so. When things went poorly in wars and Americans began dying in numbers, that’s when you saw the strongest calls to bring all the troops home.”
“But honey, there is a moral angle to it, and we can’t kill our fellow humans.” Julie rubbed his shoulder.
Luke looked at the ponies. He couldn’t see Fluttershy killing anything anyway, but Twilight had had no compunction about using laser spells on changelings for one.
“Let’s all wait until we can hear what Princess Celestia has to say,” Twilight said. “Hopefully it’s a decision we won’t have to make.”
The train pulled into the station, and they dashed off toward the castle. Twilight’s face was easily recognized, and the guards let them through. Both Julie and Fluttershy noticed the worry on their faces. They concluded that the guards could tell something had happened.
Normally, Twilight would expect to have to be announced, but even at the doors to Celestia’s chamber, the guards opened the door without challenge. The princess was standing and writing many letters with her magic, but she dropped them all as soon as she saw who had entered.
“Twilight! I’m so glad you’re all right. What’s going on in Ponyville?”
“You’ve heard already? We came to tell you about the attack.”
“Of course I know. I’ve been getting reports all day.”
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. “But we were the only ones there. Who else?”
“Please come and look,” said Celestia. She led them to a large magical map of Equestria. There were already half a dozen red glowing sparks around certain major cities, though there were none in Los Pegasus or any of the outlying areas. Julie was the fastest on the uptake.
“You mean they came through every Gate at once?” she asked. “All the places that the humans had settled?”
“Yes.” Celestia looked at the humans with sorrow in her eyes. “In Fillydelphia East, they captured thousands of humans and forced them back through before they could be stopped. Down in Baltimare Annex, they’ve had to put a force shield around both the city and the human settlement. And in Manehattan, where the humans have moved into the city proper. . . “
“W-what happened?” asked Fluttershy.
“Nopony knew what to do. They didn’t even try to talk to the ponies, only the humans. When a pony got in their way. . . why did humans ever build things that could kill a pony so painfully?”
Olivia started crying. “How many?”
“Hundreds. And humans as well. They were jumping in front of the ponies. Sacrificing themselves. Finally Luna arrived. I’ve sent her to control all the invading towns, but to go there first. She and I can hold real-time conversations without the use of dragon fire, and she is holding the soldiers there in stasis until we can decide what to do with them.”
“I told you we can’t kill them,” said Julie.
“I’m still not sure we can do anything else,” said Luke.
Twilight recounted for the princess what had happened at the battle of Ponyville.
“It is a pity that you weren’t there in all the towns, Twilight,” Celestia said. “We must teach that spell to the unicorns of all cities for defense.”
Julie looked at Fluttershy, amazed at how well she was holding up in the situation. But she could still see the stress that her friend had suffered. “I don’t want to be the one to say it, but have we considered giving in? It’s better to be alive on Earth than dead in Equestria. I’m horribly afraid of what they’ll do to your land and your ponies.”
“No!” said Olivia. “We can’t surrender. This is going to be my home. I’ve worked so hard for it.”
“I don’t want you to leave either,” said Fluttershy.
Princess Celestia drew the attention of the group. “At this point, the question is moot. You see, I had to stop it from getting any worse. Two hours ago, I asked my sister to spread the word. Every Gate in Equestria has been destroyed.”
Julie, Luke, and Olivia were stunned. They all looked around the room and the castle. It was open and airy, but they all felt trapped. They had no way to leave Equestria.
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Aww. What about all the bronies stuck on Earth?
Man, fuck the military. Bastards.
Whelp that's one way to stop the invaders.
1839304
Why do I suddenly see any of the magical bronies being in a really bad spot now? Like "the enhanced interrogation methods will continue until you show us how to re-open the gates" bad?
They came in and kidnapped Equestrian citizens for economic gain. Making other peoples lives miserable for your own benefit, especially the monetary kind, is in my opinion the epitome of evil. I really really really want to see some revenge and/or the return of all the lost bronies*. I can't believe how much this story is sticking with me. Hit me right in the feels. Please update soon... and kick Earthling ass!
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4s148gKOO1rwcc6bo1_500.gif
*The revenge scenario, if not coupled with the return of the hostages, would feel hollow to me.
When I first discovered this, a long time ago, and in a featured box that is no more, I thought it was pretty cool. Then I lost interest and unfavorited it. Rediscovering this and reading through the comments, I've gotten a very uncomfortable feeling, like the one caused by thinly veiled misanthropism. Normally, I'd continue where I left off, but I'm feeling somewhat angry at the moment. You see, alongside this in the popular stories box, were THREE, count 'em, THREE Conversion Bureau fics. I know this has nothing to do with The Conversion Bureau, but really, I like to make connections, and due to unfortunate timing I no longer like this wonderful, wonderful story. I just thought I'd stop by to say that.
1839304 LET'S KILL ALL THE DAMN TROOPS FROM THIS FICTIONAL STORY!!!
1840386 I agree. Damn fictional a-holes. How dare they fictionally do things I don't like?
1841337
Well, I guess it's partially my fault.
" I'm sure if there is something out there looking down on us from somewhere else in the universe, they're wise enough to stay away from us. " Gil Grissom [CSI 6x04]
" We have to create the future ... Or others will do it for us. We have to care for one another ... Because if we don't, who will? " [Babylon 5 5x22]
What the hell do they think bronies are? huh?
If they are put in corner (like now) they start to fight back like every other human.
Damn military idiots and that psychologist can go rot to hell for eternity (he's probably discord).
e621.net/data/sample/a6/a9/a6a9aa99580a9054e3b6d4ab3f49df46.jpg?1328647492
Holy shit, this suddenly got really intense. I'm excited as hell to see where this is going.
You sir, are making me invest myself in this story too much. I was actually feeling dread from the current situation. The gut twisting feeling is still being persistant as I type this comment. NO MORE TALK! I must know what happens next!
Curse you, your writting ability has reduced me to such a feels related mess!
1905464 That picture... it scares me.
And to a sense, isn't every human a powerless Discord?
"The more beautiful and pure something is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt it."
-The Internet